Mode of and means for grading fruit and other articles



V 8- I N, s MQNAB| v I I MODE 0F ANDMEANS FO-R. GRADING FRUIT AND OTHER ARTICLES.

' APPLICATION 'FILED'QQT. 1; 1919.- v v may be varied considerably but in the ac- UNITED STATS PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN SINCLAIR MONAB, OF MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

MODE OF AND MEANS FOR GRADING FRUIT AND OTHER ARTICLES.

Application filed October 7, 1919. .Serial No. 329,053.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN SINCLAIR MONAB, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, etc., residing at 31 Queen street, Melbourn, in the State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Modes of and Means for Grading Fruit and other Articles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a mode of and means for grading apples and other nonspherical fruit and other articles, especially soft fruits and the like which require to be treated gently to avoid injuring them and depreciating their value. Known machines have belts with grading holes of fixed sizes, but fruit becomes caught in the holes and bruised or otherwise damaged; other known machines have pairs of belts which diverge but will not properly grade such articles as flat apples.

My invention allows of grading either spherical or non-spherical'articl'es including fiat apples and'without injury to articles which are soft.

I use carriers, belts or chains which have grading holes which automatically vary or change their openings according to the posi tions to which the parts of belts or chains which contain'the said holes are moved.

The application of such belts or chains companying drawings (which are partly diagrammatic) parts are shown by way of example of one form of a machine having one such grading belt or chain. The details of construction may be varied by employing a plurality of such belts or chains while 'still retaining matter which is hereinafter othenfigures make clear) to be shown in de- Specification of Letters ream. t ted u y 20,1920,

.in Figs 1 and '2 for its parts (which the tail.- Its ends are omitted fromFig. 2,and

some parts of this chainare omitted from .Fig. Such a machine will have any suitable frame 1, and any suitable means as compartments 2, 3, 1,5 to" receivegraded articles accordin-" to their sizes atand above where they contact with the rims or seatings 6 ofthe grading holes 7.0f the chain.j I

The machine will have any suitable feed means as a hopperor bin 8 (not shown in Fig. 3. but shown inqFig. 2 with a hinge support 8 to allow of adjustment of slope of its base to regulate the feed) to receive fllllt' to be graded. The articles will be moved to the grading chain inany suitable manner as by a belt 9 which-is carried around rollers 10, 11, which are suitably rograding chain. 7 The fruit or other articles Y thus become seated one in each chain seat and will stay in these seats until the latter spread out sufliciently to let the fruit drop a through. As this spreading occurs gradually, the larger the seated article is the longer it willride its seat while the chain is moved along.

The chain is moved as at one end overa pair of pulleys 19, 19? on a shaft as 13,: and at the other-end over a pair of pulleys 21, 22 on shaft 23.

Any or' all pulleys have when desired means of lateral adjustment on their shafts as by means of set screws in their hubs- It is desirable usually .to provide in that way for locating one or each edge of the chain, to

'widen or narrow the seatings to suit the grading required. V

I show one pulley as 19 with an extension 20, which may receive a belt around it when it isgdesired ,to drive the chain and any other moving parts of the machine by power, but all power required may be imparted manually in many cases, and s to allow of this I show ahandle 25 attached to shaft 13.

. t The sidesof the. gradingchain are sup 7 Each edge or side of the chain comprises belting, links, or some other arrangement of members of any suitable material or Ina-- terials and cross section or sections. For

example these side members are illustrated as flexible belts 30, 31 supported in and moved along the channels 28, 29. The rails 26, 27 have'any suitable supports, as adjustable brackets '32 attached to the machine frame. The surfaces which carry side mem bers 30, 31 are closer together at the feed end of the machine, than at the other end and. though this effect can be variously produced the extent of divergence and thegage at each end may be adjusted by making the rails movable as by means of the brackets. Owing to the structure of the chain, its sides automatically spread as it movesbeing relatively close together at the feed end and graduallv diverging toward the other end. Shaft 23 is shown in Fig.2 mounted in a forked bracket 33 parts from which (see Fig. 1) project through frame slots 34. This allows of adjustment of the bracket and thus of the shaft to tension the chain but the said bracket'is only one of the means obviously available for shaft adjustment.

The rim members 6 which extend between sides 30, 31 to form'seatings may comprise wires which are shown curved (seeFig. 4)

and sheathed'bysuitably soft material, as rubber tubing, the illustrated curves being fsuitable for flat apple grading; These rim members are riveted, linked, pivoted or otherwise attached to the sides, and have-a medial connection which allows of the required spreading. Thus the members 6 are shown pivoted together at '6, but other .forms of jointing are usable to provide a series'of-enlargeable holes to cause articles to be graded. V

The-weight of any article seated over a grading hole during the chain motion insures that the side members :30, 31 spread I apart so far as the divergence of guides 28, 29 allows. The closer'these'guides are the smaller the seatings. The invention is not restricted to the use of seatings of the form and details illustrated, the essential being that the grading or effective size of each seating shall progressively increase as the seating is conveyed along, each seating being self enlarging to a definite extent corresponding with its position. {Thus each piece of fruit or article to be gradedfalls through the seating at the plaice indicated by its grade tothe proper canvas compartment or other receiver.

The seating rim members 6' are shown as extending upward intermediately of the carrier sides so that the connection 6'" is elevated. As the sides spread apart the elevation becomes reduced. V

Pieces of fruit or articles carried by the chain would if larger than the largest apertures the seats make, pass over the chain end as into compartment 5.

Although provision is preferred for ad justing the distances apart of rails 26, 27, and the pulleys to adjust the spread of sides 28, 29, some machines will be made with fixed gages.

A grading chain may be modified by pro viding it with more than one row of seatings. V Y

The chain in'Fig. 3 showsrmembers; so folded or bent together that the center appears well elevated, but in Fig. 4 thechain appears much flattened so that the center is parts is maintained to secure the described grading effect; leather, rubber and combinations containing these, areexamples of materials which allow of such integral con- 7 struction.

To allow of special attention to each piece of fruit or other article, or for greater'simplicity of construction, any chain of the kind described could be hand'fed, It is not necessary that every consecutive seating carry an article to be graded, nor that each seating be connected to any other. A space may'exist between any two seatings.

Having described this invention what is claimed by Letters Patent is f 1.v In a device of the class described, a carrier comprising a pair of lengthwise extending flexible members, and a plurality of seatforming elements carried each of'said members, the elements carried by one ofthe flexible members being connected to those of the otherflexible member along the longitudinal center line of the carrier. V

g 2. A carrier asset fortliinclaim 1, the connections betweenthe seat-forming ele-' ments beingfiexible.

3. In a device of the class described, a car- 115 rier comprising apair of lengthwise extend? ing flexible members, and a plurality I of pairs of seat-formlng elements carried by each of said'flexible members, the elements V of each pair converging 'togetherat the 120 connected With-the v s g end of those in claim 1, of a pair of divergent guide rails, and means for causing the flexible members to travel on said guide rails.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a carrier as set forth in claim 1, of a pair of divergent guide rails, means for varying the divergence of said rails, and means for causing the flexible members to travel on said guide rails.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a carrier comprising a pair of lengthwise extending flexible meme other flexible member at one end of the carrier, said convergence gradually decreasing toward the opposite end of the carrier.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set 20 my hand.

NORMAN SINCLAIR MoNAB. 

